A Day in the Park with Family

Today we were able to spend the day playing with the kids' birthfamily.  It's always a lot of fun for the kids to see their siblings and birthmom. 

 Silas and his sister, Ty

 Silas and Rachel

 We got to meet the kids' half brother, Anthony, for the first time today.  He's 14 years old and is almost finished with his first year of high school.

 He is really good with kids.  He jumped right in and started playing with his brothers and sister.  He's quiet but a lot of fun.

 Anthony is helping Gabe ride Junior's bike.

Gabe, Anthony, and Junior

The End of Spring

This year, Gabe and Eden have been in Puggles which is the 2 year old Awana class at our church.  They have loved going to Puggles on Sunday night and they will miss their teachers, Ms. Misy, Ms. Amanda, and Ms. Tammy.

 

 

This time of the year also signifies the end of their first year of preschool.  They had "Beach Days" at the end of the year to celebrate the fun they've had and to take advantage of the warm weather.

 

 

 Their preschool year ended with a spring program.  Gabe and Eden painted bowties and hair bows to wear while singing patriotic songs.



We were very blessed to have the twins in a class this year that celebrated adoption non-traditional families.  In addition to having their cousins, Abram and Lila Ruth, in their class we met Malachi and Nolan who are also adopted.



Silas is 18 months old!

 Silas James, 18 months old

Height: 32.6 inches 53rd%tile
Weight: 30lbs 14ozs 100th%tile
Favorite Food: All types of fruit
Favorite Book: "Click Clack Moo" or "Farm: Learning Tabs Book"
Favorite Toy: A John Deere tractor
Favorite Animal: Cow

What Silas has learned:
Silas is a quick learner and he wants to do everything his big brother and sister can do.  He knows most of his body parts and can tell you the noises a dog, chicken, bee, dinosaur/alligator/lion (its' all the same) make.  He doesn't make the moo sound for a cow put his puckers up his lips like he's saying moo.  He can say Mama, Dada, Nana, Lala, bye, ball, and bird.  He has signs for more, eat, milk, tractor/car, and he loves blowing kisses.  Silas has a bit of a language delay so he's being evaluated for his speech abilities and might begin speech services.  He loves to be outside mostly riding in a car or in the gator seeing all the animals around the farm.  He loves to read (he has to be directly in front of the book), he loves to dance to music, and he loves to wrestle on the floor.  Silas is very snuggly and is a true Mama's boy.  He is truly a happy boy and he makes the most out of everything he does.

Silas loves to swim and he's learning to jump into the pool.

 

These are Silas' silent "moo" lips.

 

A true farm boy.

 

Appointee Orientation in Colorado

On April 14th, we loaded up our family, drove to Charlotte, then flew to Denver, Colorado for 2 weeks of training with our mission board, WorldVenture.  The kids were so excited to fly on an airplane although Gabe informed us that he didn't need an airplane but that he would put on his cape and fly there himself.

We learned all about the crazy and unpredictable weather of Colorado; it snowed 3 times while we were there!  On the days it didn't snow, we were able to wear a light jacket and play outside.  The altitude also affected the kids and their asthma; we ended up taking Eden to the ER so she could receive more breathing treatments and a prescription steroid.

While we were in trainings, the kids attended "Kids' Club."  A great program geared toward Third Culture Kids.  They met a lot of kids from all over the US, they met Ted, a huge bear, who travels a lot and they learned all about the things he needs to put in his suitcase when he travels.  They were taught how to taste different foods and to politely put it down if they don't like it and they made passports and traveled all over the office to have different people stamp and sign their little booklets.

We visited the Colorado Train Museum and learned about a lot of different trains.  We also visited some new friends at their hotel and had fun swimming.

The highlight of the trip was the New Missionary Celebration Service in which all 10 new missionary units gave a 3 minutes speech about themselves and the work they will be doing.  After the speeches, we heard an encouraging message from WorldVenture's president and received certificates of appointment.

 

 Our mentors, George and Deena Jackson, traveled to Colorado for trainings and the ceremony.  We were able to spend some time with our field leader, Rodger, and we got to know new teammates, the Sass', who are heading to Malawi.

As we left Colorado we felt encouraged, reassured that this is God's plan for our family, and excited to begin the 2 year time clock to the mission field.  So what's next?  The rest of 2013 includes a 12 day trip to Mozambique, another training in Colorado, and then we really begin the journey of developing prayer and financial partners to take this journey with us.  God is good and we are blessed to be in this process.

Easter

 Easter Egg Hunt at Meme and Papa's house with our cousins!

 

 Puppet show, egg hunt, and snack at New Friendship Baptist Church

 This is the first year that the twins cared about getting the eggs.  Once they found out there was candy inside they wanted to find as many as possible.  Silas, on the other hand, only cared about one egg and what it had inside.

The most memorable part about Easter was our church's Easter program.  We took the twins to see the drama and they stared in awe through the whole program.  They learned so much from watching that drama and they've talked about it for weeks.  They retold the Easter story to their preschool teacher and at the end Gabe realized there was nothing left to tell so he added "Then Jesus got bit by an alligator." 

Celebrating Ivalee Keen

Ivalee Keen wore many "hats" throughout her life.  I most remember her as my aunt but that alone wasn't enough for her; she was my friend.  I spent a lot of time with her growing up especially in the summers since she was a teacher she had the summers off and so my brother and I visited her frequently and from time to time would play with my cousin.  Ivalee loved to craft . . . jewelry, hair bows, ornaments, scrapbooks and many more than I can think of.  She also liked to bake and bake and bake.  She had this fantastic way of making the most out of every occasion and holiday.  Traveling was her passion and I know she would have made many more trips had her health been better.

I really feel like I became the closest to Ivalee when I began pursuing a career in teaching.  We were able to connect on such a different level and I learned a lot from her.  She even visited my class the first year I taught and gave a presentation on Mexico to my 5th graders.

Most of all, Ivalee loved her family.  Her daughter, Bonnie, grandkids, Leeandra and Noah, siblings, parents, nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, and many more all felt her love.  She was genuine and passionate about making everything special.  I will miss Ivalee but I am sure we will meet again in heaven.

The Color Run 5K

While in high school, I ran cross country . . . I hated it!  What's the point?  Running, hurting . . . I had to do it back then because my basketball coach had a policy, play some type of physically active sport during your off season to stay in shape.  But this 5K was voluntary and I even paid to run in it!  I am so surprised at how much fun I had; I don't know that I'd pay to do it again but it's definitely something to experience.

After every kilometer, you ran through a cloud of colored powder to celebrate.  The finish line was a huge color party with the stuff flying everywhere.

I know we don't look very covered in color but we felt like we were.  That powder got into all the nooks and crannies.  It took forever to get it all out/off.

 

My "team" consisted of Lauren Burnette (her 1st 5K), Melody Chandler (her 1st 5K and 1 year transplant anniversary), Erin Garner, and Rebecca Long (I lost the last 2 the moment the race started and couldn't find them again, not even at the end).  Our team name was "White as Snow" because I felt like no matter how much powder I got covered in, I would still be a pasty white girl.